


The Best Offense

by zcinmalik



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gryffindor Malia, Inter-House Friendships, Inter-House Relationships, Quidditch, hufflepuff kira
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-16 12:23:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4625238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zcinmalik/pseuds/zcinmalik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“That’s the Hufflepuff Seeker and one of the Gryffindor Beaters making the rounds just now. Yukimura and Tate are famous for an unlikely inter-House friendship that’s survived six years of brutally competitive seasons. All of that has led up to this year’s Hogwarts Quidditch Cup, where once again they’ll be put to the test.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best Offense

**Author's Note:**

  * For [queermartins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queermartins/gifts).



> Big thanks as always to [dylangayberry](http://dylangayberry.tumblr.com/) for the beta! Any remaining mistakes are mine. 
> 
> Thanks also to the [Femslash Exchange](http://teenwolffemslashexchange.tumblr.com/) mods for their patience and hard work. 
> 
> [queermartins](http://queermartins.tumblr.com/), hope you like it!

When Malia finally makes her way through the common room entrance, she’s greeted by the sight of Kira sitting side-saddle on her broom. It’s hovering four feet above the ground, and Kira is taking the final bite out of an apple as their eyes meet.

Kira makes a noise through her full mouth that sounds like it’s supposed to be, “Finally.” She pulls her wand out of her sleeve, vanishes the apple core, and hops to the ground.

Malia tugs the portrait closed behind her. The Fat Lady is dozing, her usual preference on Saturday mornings.

“You know, if you just told me your password I wouldn’t have to wait here all the time.”

Malia groans. “Always going on about the password. I’m not the one whose common room is a booby trap.”

Kira grins, but lets the subject drop.

Malia rests the weight of her broom and bat on her right shoulder as they walk through the castle. The hallways echo with their footsteps and reflect the early morning sunlight streaming through the windows. Every time they pass a yellow and black banner, Kira touches it. Sometimes she rubs the material between her fingers, sometimes brushes over it lightly. Malia can’t roll her eyes at Kira’s tradition, can’t even mockingly do the same to the red and gold banners that also line the walls. Not when she and Kira both know that Malia’s wearing her little sister’s lucky pendant under her robes.

(Malia tries not to dwell on the fact that even if she wasn’t wearing it, she could never make fun of Kira’s pre-game ritual. She isn’t sure when everything that Kira did became something precious, something untouchable.)

Their contented silence is broken as soon as they step outside the castle walls. Even from a distance, the unmistakable roar of the pitch is audible. They aren’t quite late, but are getting close to it. Malia is used to this by now, never too concerned with punctuality. Kira, by proximity, has had to become more amenable to Malia’s near-perpetual tardiness.

Despite this, Kira smiles and shakes her head as they finally arrive at the pitch. Stiles is already announcing the teams’ entrances, so there’s no time for them to go to the changing rooms like they’re supposed to.

As they mount their brooms behind one of the stands, Kira says, “Braeden is going to kill you.”

Malia shrugs with a grin and swings her bat over her shoulder.

“ _And the teams are lining the field, but there’s a missing player on each side!_ ” Stiles’ voice booms over the screams of the crowd, his tone coy and faux surprised, as if he doesn’t know what’s happening.

Kira and Malia kick off in synchronization, soaring into the air and eventually overtaking the stands. The crowd goes wild for it, with supporters of both teams shouting in excitement.

Malia feels like she’s finally woken up properly now that she’s in the air. On a whim, she starts a lap of the pitch instead of landing on the ground. She’s not in a hurry to get to where Braeden is shaking her head and the rest of the team are trying, despite themselves, to look stern.

Kira’s bright laugh follows her, and she can sense Kira tailing behind as she circles over the heads of the spectators and the teams.

“ _That’s the Hufflepuff Seeker and one of the Gryffindor Beaters making the rounds just now. Yukimura and Tate are famous for an unlikely inter-House friendship that’s survived six years of brutally competitive seasons. All of that has led up to this year’s Hogwarts Quidditch Cup, where once again they’ll be put to the test._ ”

Malia turns to look behind her and tosses a wink at Kira, before finally landing hard next to her team. She taps Cora’s bat with her own, ignoring Cora’s knowing look.

Braeden crosses her arms. “Done with the theatrics? Ready to play Quidditch?”

Malia schools her face into a serious expression and nods. Braeden looks skeptical for a moment longer before she can no longer suppress a twitch of her lips.

“Don’t let it be said I didn’t do my part to keep your marriage intact.”

Before Malia can open her mouth to respond, Braeden has mounted her broom and kicked off. The rest of the team quickly follows, and Malia attributes the heat in her face to the warm sunshine that envelops the pitch.

“ _And they’re finally off!_ ” Stiles announces. From her peripheral vision Malia can see Kira flying high above the rest of the players, her eyes already scanning the pitch. Malia focuses on defending her Chasers.

“ _Argent takes possession of the Quaffle, dodges McCall, takes the shot… blocked! Blocked by Hewitt, the Hufflepuff Keeper!_ ”

A few hours into the game, Malia pauses to wipe the sweat from her brow. She hovers near their new Keeper Liam, who hasn’t been the target of a Bludger in a while and is probably due for one soon.

“ _Another score by Argent! That brings the score to 90-90 even, with still no sign of the Snitch, and this is the tightest match we’ve seen in years!_ ”

Malia finds herself glancing up to Kira. She’s still circling the pitch, a fair distance from where the Gryffindor Seeker is doing the same. Kira seems to feel Malia’s gaze and looks down at her. Malia gives her a short nod, but Kira beams in response and slows her broom marginally.

Liam must notice, because he laughs and chides, “Save it for the after party, Tate.” Malia feels her face heat up again and is grateful that they’re out of Kira’s earshot. Before she can muster up a response, though, she sees something moving fast at Kira.

In that moment, Stiles starts shouting in excitement over the Gryffindor Seeker taking a sudden dive for the Snitch, and Malia registers the faint whistle of the Bludgers, one of which is flying at Liam, and one of which…

Malia doesn’t think about what she’s doing. She flattens to her broom, shoots toward Kira, bodily shoves her out of the way, and blocks the Bludger that was a meter from colliding with the back of Kira’s head.

Malia swings so hard at the ball that she imagines she can hear her bat crack under the pressure. The Bludger is sent flying backwards, and over the adrenaline-riddled blood that’s pounding in Malia’s veins, she can hear Stiles roaring, “ _That’s it, that’s the game! Gryffindor takes the Snitch and wins 240 to 90!_ ”

“ _Malia_?”

This comes from a much different, and much closer voice. Malia stares down in disbelief at the rest of the players below her, and turns unthinkingly to where Kira is staring at her with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

“I—”

“What the hell was that?” Braeden calls, looking like she’s torn between victory-fueled euphoria and incandescent rage. Malia shrugs helplessly. If she had had enough time to process what just happened, she would have hoped that her own actions would get lost among the furor surrounding the Snitch. Clearly that won’t be the case.

“ _Some dissent among the Gryffindor ranks as the Captain scolds Beater Malia Tate for an unprecedented move in the history of Hogwarts Quidditch_ ,” Stiles crows. “ _For those of you who missed it, Tate just defended Hufflepuff’s Kira Yukimura from a Bludger, choosing a member of the opposing team over her own Keeper_.”

Malia winces as Stiles’ words start to register among the spectators. The Hufflepuff crowd looks shocked, where the Gryffindor supporters seem to be debating how angry they should get, given that they still won the game.

Stiles’ words make Malia glance at Liam, who thankfully seems to have dodged his own Bludger. He waves her off easily.

“ _Let this be a lesson to us all in inter-House cooperation_ ,” Stiles says in a mock-professor tone. He shoots a mischievous look in Malia’s direction. “ _Or in how to_ —”

Thankfully, Deaton chooses this moment to cut Stiles off, firmly taking the wand from his throat and shooing him off of the announcer’s platform.

Malia can feel Kira’s gaze, but can’t bring herself to return it. She flies to the ground quickly, ignoring everything that’s going on around her. The sound of the other players landing, clapping each other on the back in celebration or commiseration, and the background noise made by all of the spectators leaving their seats and talking loudly barely register to Malia. She’s only concerned with getting away.

“Malia, wait!” Kira calls, but Malia is already trudging to the Gryffindor locker room.

She ignores the odd looks that the rest of the team gives her, and the sympathetic shoulder pat from Allison as well. She just wants to shower and get out of here before—

“Tate. A word?”

Malia follows Braeden to the other side of the room, resigned at this point to Braeden’s understandable fury. The rest of the team diligently pretend not to be listening. Braeden sighs and shoves her hands in her pockets.

“I’m not going to lecture you.” Malia looks up from where she’d been staring at Braeden’s shoes. “You’re one of the best Beaters we’ve ever had, never mind that we won the game anyway.”

“I thought you were going to be angry.”

Braeden shrugs. “I was. You know Dunbar is shit at dodging Bludgers. Or he used to be, I guess.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Malia sees Liam straighten up with pride.

“The point is, I was angry for a minute.” Braeden gives Malia a thoughtful look. “Then I was impressed. It took talent and guts to look after Yukimura like that.” Malia feels herself start to smile. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

Braeden claps her shoulder and walks past her to the showers. While it makes Malia feel a bit better, the nervous pit in her stomach hasn’t fully abated. She isn’t sure what’s going to happen when she inevitably has to talk to Kira. There’s going to be no hiding it, no pretending that Malia had a legitimate reason to choose Kira over Liam. If Kira didn’t know how Malia felt by now, she certainly knows after that disaster.

She’ll probably want to avoid Malia for the rest of the year to spare her more embarrassment. Kira is nice like that. But Malia doesn’t harbor any illusions that their friendship is going to be salvageable now that Kira knows about Malia’s crush.

As she reaches up to tug her hair out of its loose ponytail, Malia has only a moment to start to turn towards her locker before her vision is overtaken by Kira’s determined face.

“Kira!” Malia shouts in surprise, and everyone in the locker room turns toward the sound of her voice. “What are you doing in here?”

Kira is standing so close. She doesn’t answer Malia’s question, doesn’t even open her mouth to speak. She just takes one small step forward, bringing herself over the last tiny distance separating her from Malia. The next moment, Kira is pressing a firm kiss to Malia’s mouth.

Malia imagines that this is what it must feel like to use a Time-Turner. Everything seems to freeze. All of her focus is on Kira’s soft lips and how warm she is in their close proximity. Malia can smell the Muggle shampoo that Kira uses and sense the exhilaration that Kira vibrates with after a game. Now, with one of Kira’s arms resting at the nape of Malia’s neck and the other hand gently gripping her right hip, Malia feels that energy more than she ever has before. It electrifies her body.

Slowly, Kira releases Malia and pulls away. Without having realized that at some point her eyes had closed of their own volition, Malia opens them. She blinks a bit as she stares at Kira, whose face is flush. She only faintly registers the sounds of the Gryffindor team groaning good-naturedly at them.

“You can’t just…” Kira’s voice is a little breathless. “Act all chivalrous and then leave without letting me thank you. And not that I don’t appreciate it, obviously, but what were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t thinking,” Malia says instantly. She’s never explicitly lied to Kira before, and the thought doesn’t occur to her to do so now. “It was just…”

“Instinct?” Kira asks, and smiles softly.

“Yeah,” Malia says, and she can’t keep talking about that damn Bludger when her mind is consumed with the kiss. “Was, um—was that instinct too?”

Kira raises an eyebrow in a way that makes her look a little like her dad. “What are you referring to, Malia?”

Malia groans and runs a hand over her face. “I hate you. That kiss. Was that instinct, too?”

Kira doesn’t say anything for several seconds, and Malia chances a look at her. To Malia’s dismay, Kira is no longer being playful. She looks quite serious when she says, “No. That wasn’t instinct.”

Malia feels her stomach drop. She should’ve known. She shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up for even a second. Of course Kira wouldn’t just kiss Malia out of nowhere. She was thanking her, like she said. Doing something special and out of the ordinary because Malia saved her, or even worse, because she knows about Malia now and feels sorry for her. Or—

“Kissing you wasn’t instinct,” Kira says firmly. She’s staring meaningfully at Malia, as if she can tell what she’s thinking. “Kissing you was me nearly getting brained by a Bludger, realizing that life is short, and very intentionally deciding that I wanted to kiss the girl that I like.”

Malia stares, uncomprehending, for a few long moments. Kira looks back at her patiently. Finally, Kira’s words properly register, and it feels like someone’s set off a thousand Whiz-Bangs in Malia's mind.

“Oh, thank god,” Malia says, and leans forward to kiss Kira back.

The second kiss is somehow even better than the first, sweetened by the knowledge that it’s going to be one of many. Malia loses herself in the feeling, until, what feels like only a few short seconds later, Kira pulls back reluctantly.

“I should probably go shower,” she says, one of her hands still resting lightly on Malia’s waist.

“Oh. Yeah,” Malia says. She suddenly feels self-conscious about her dirty uniform. “I kind of need one too, so…”

“So…” Kira mimics, smiling. “I’ll see you back at the castle?”

Malia can’t keep herself from grinning, even though she knows she should be trying to act casual and cool, and not like all of her daydreams have come true all at once. “Yeah. I’ll see you there.”

Kira presses a last kiss to Malia’s lips before she ducks out of the locker room, and Malia swears she can still feel the warmth of it hours later.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [here](http://zcinmalik.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr.


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